Defeat an uphill clog for Barney
HEARTBROKEN Raymond van Barneveld’s dream of a 20th anniversary world title expired on Clogmanay.
Barney won the first of his five crowns 20 years ago – but his bid to topple fellow Dutchman Michael van Gerwen floundered in a rash of 29 missed attempts at a double.
Reigning champion Van Gerwen held his nerve to edge a tense quarter-final 5-4 at the William Hill PDC World Championship.
But in truth, it was more Banksy graffiti than Rembrandt classic, littered with an astonishing 18 breaks of throw.
And when he looks back, Barney will admit he didn’t just miss the boat – he let a whole armada sail by.
Before the match, outlining the way to beat MVG, he stressed the importance of seizing his opportunities.
But for four sets, he scattered his arrows across the board like a bag of spanners falling out of the loft and found himself 3-1 down.
Only when he burgled the fifth set, where MVG averaged a whopping 119.24, and then levelled the contest at 3-3 did the slow burner burst into flame.
Even when he hauled himself level again at 4-4 to force the decider, Van Barneveld let it slip again.
Van Gerwen, who averaged 103.10 despite patches of truly average darts, said: “To win a close game like this gives me confidence for the weekend.”